Tightening U bolts


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Posted by john copeman ontario can. on Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 20:13:24 :

often i found when i changed out kin pins and knuckles on front ends,there were times that new bushings/bearings would be loose>IN severe cases i would remove the entire front axle (2 or 4 wheel drive)then sent the knuckles or king pins (entire axle )out to a machince shop to be "rebushed"> I also did all other(rear) spring work in my shop>when i used to cut out factory u bolts with a torch,there would be a bang >caused by the tension and torque being released on the spring assembly via the u bolts >many times it was almost impossible to duplicte the torque on the u bolts with out pulling or "galling" threads > i would get the torque specs for the BOLT size, and would take all the tension up evenly on the bolts then i torqured the bolts in stages(example 100 150 200 foot/ pounds) but to insure no thread damage , when i was approaching the max recomended torque i would heat the u bolts dull red at the 150 foot pounds ie >then quickly , tighten to the final torque of 200>this i found this did two things it eliminated the risk of stripping or galling the thread as i approached the max torque for thread and bolt size > when the bolts cooled they "shrank" enough to realy seal the deal>dont over heat the bolt, heat it evenly not on the bends or the threads>this will as close to factory tight as you can get >in 35 years from 1/2 tons to 60 tons never had a u bolt slip or break J



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